NEW DELHI: Sanji Ram, the main accused in the rape and murder of the eight-year-old girl in Kathua told the Supreme Court that he was innocent and the probe should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), to get to the real culprits.
The little girl was drugged and repeatedly raped after she was held captive at Rasana village. Her body was found in the forests on January 17, a week after she went missing from a spot where her horses were grazing.
Chilling details of her horrific death had shaken the country and ultimately, forced the government to include death as one of the penalties for raping children.
A retired government official, Sanji Ram, also opposed the petition to transfer the trial against the eight accused to Chandigarh. There are 221 witnesses and it will be difficult them to travel to Chandigarh around 265 km from Kathua for court hearings.
Sanji Ram also insisted that Deepika Singh Rajawat, who had approached the Supreme Court, was not a lawyer in the trial court and the security given to her should be removed.
The former revenue officer, according to Jammu & Kashmir's crime branch, was the prime accused in this case and wanted to drive out her nomadic community of Bakerwals out of the Rassana area of Kathua.